


Gaslighting and USO Ghosts

by TriplePirouette



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Anti-Daniel, Daniel Has Issues, F/M, Not tagging the ship, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26680003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriplePirouette/pseuds/TriplePirouette
Summary: He reached out, took her hand. “Peggy, don’t you know I need you?”She sat tall, taking her hand from his and folding it primly in her lap. “Why yes, I’ve noticed that. But the fact is, I don’t need you.”Tumblr ask box fic about Peggy breaking up with Daniel. Not Sousa friendly.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Gaslighting and USO Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the anon prompt: Peggy breaking up with Sousa for Steve. Sousa is a jerk despite Steve didn't do anything and this was a long time coming.
> 
> Oh. Oh man. Look. I’m so Anti-Sousa. 
> 
> That's your warning. LEAVE NOW if you like him. 
> 
> Daniel had some good points (and I haven’t seen his part on AOS yet) but man. As someone who has dealt with men with some of his traits that they put on display in Agent Carter, it’s toxic. So toxic. This is not Daniel Sousa friendly. I’m not even putting Steve in this because Steve has nothing to do with the fact that Sousa is toxic. Just... NO. God, I felt so bad for Violet. Ok. Here we go.

Peggy should have known before they even started dating. 

Daniel had issues. 

At first it just seemed a little like insecurity. He needed to hear that she loved him for him, that she wasn’t comparing him to Steve. That dead Steve’s memory wasn’t more important than her alive boyfriend. She could understand that. She could. 

But it lasted. And it twisted. It moved beyond reassurance and support. 

They only talked about what he did at the office. She’d start off by trying to tell him about her day and he’d take over the conversation, making his day that much worse, or harder, or more difficult, or more important, just because it was his. In the beginning she was always careful to reassure him that they all had days like these. 

Until she realized he never wanted to hear about her days like those. 

And she’d never pitied him for his leg. Never. She knew men who had lost so much more than just a limb and nothing about it scared or intimidated or bothered her. She tried never to make him feel any different about it when they were intimate, helped him check his skin when he thought the prosthetic was digging in, and helped him change dressings when pressure wounds got the best of him. She never made negative comments, only asked if he needed help if he seemed he was struggling. She took her cues from him. And despite that, he’d still tell her she thought less of him because he wasn’t whole. 

He said it so often, for a little while she thought it might be true. 

She wasn’t sure, exactly, when she realized things had become one sided, when she noticed that she built him up and supported him and soothed his worries and that he did none of those things for her, but the revelation hit her like a lightning bolt. 

She started to take notice. 

She watched how he steered the conversations. 

She really didn’t think he even knew he was doing it. At least not at first. But the longer she paid attention to it, the more she heard the same phrases. He placated her, pitched woo when she got angry, tossed out a “hey guys,” or “don’t be like that” in the office when she needed a little support but never went as far as actually backing her up at work. She got to the point where she realized she was giving him all of the things he seemed to need, and he was giving her almost nothing. 

She was quiet over dinner. A dinner she’d cooked, even though they’d both been at the office the same amount of hours and done the same paperwork. He’d feigned needing a break. 

Apparently he didn’t think she did. He seemed to think she should be in charge of cooking every night while he got to be in charge of having a drink. 

She had worked herself up over the thrown together sandwiches, was done with feeling like she was always giving and getting nothing back in return unless he noticed she was getting angry. And tonight, he noticed. 

He reached out, took her hand. “Peggy, don’t you know I need you?”

She sat tall, taking her hand from his and folding it primly in her lap. “Why yes, I’ve noticed that. But the fact is, I don’t need you.” 

Peggy stood, grabbing her purse from the counter. She was thankful she’d seen this day coming and had started slowly but surely moving her things back to her own apartment. She was sure he hadn’t noticed. “I used to think you had me on a pedestal. But the truth was, you wanted me to put you on one. I don’t want someone on a pedestal and I don’t want someone I”m above. I want to be there, next to one another. Partners. Together.” She took a deep breath. “You don’t want that, I see that now. I’m sorry.”

He stands and dramatically takes a step without his crutch, reaching for her as she’s leaving and toppling until she has to reach out and catch him. She waits until he’s standing steady then steps back. 

He’s done this before. She knows he’s perfectly steady on that leg moving quickly when he wants to be. She frowns and steps away. He puts on his wounded puppy face. 

“You wouldn’t be saying this if I had two working legs.”

“It has nothing to do with that.”

“I’m not enough for you? I’m not good enough for you? No one will live up to him Peg, so you’ve got to stop trying. I’m the best you’re going to get. No one’s going to put up with you working and sassing and being so damned pig headed.”

She doesn’t know if he thinks he’s trying to charm her, or to win her back. She thinks maybe, deep down, he’s trying to scare her into staying with him. 

She just frowns. She starts to speak, then closes her mouth. 

“Well?” he asks, limping towards her. 

“I know you think you love me, Daniel. But you don’t. Not really.” She smiles sadly at him. Needing someone to make you feel good, and loving them and wanting to make them feel good, are two totally different things. If you loved me, you wouldn’t have said what you just did to me.”

She turned, his voice still raised as she moved towards the door. “So, what? You’re just going to go? What do we tell everyone tomorrow? You’re ready to be alone? For the rest of your life?”

And that was it. In a few short moments he’d confirmed all she already knew. She stopped at the door, pulling it open and turning just enough that he could see the earnestness on her face. “You tell everyone whatever you want tomorrow. I’ll go along as long as it isn’t too outlandish. And yes, Daniel, I’d rather be alone, than be with someone who doesn’t love me the way I know I deserve to be loved.”

His voice stops her from leaving. “Little full of yourself there, aren’t you Carter?” She doesn’t play into him, but waits. “You told me once you knew your value, that other people’s opinions of you didn’t matter. And now you’re saying that you know how you deserve to be loved?” He laughs, and she wonders if he knows how bitter he is, or if he’s dipped into the whiskey tonight more than she knew. “Good luck finding someone that will live up to that standard.” 

She shuts the door behind her, and never looks back. 

She loves herself to that standard, and if that’s all she has, she knows that’s enough. 


End file.
